An archaic information storage and transmission device that works by
depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp. More recent
developments in paper-based technology include improved
‘write-once’ update devices which use tiny rolling heads
similar to mouse balls to deposit colored pigment. All these devices
require an operator skilled at so-called ‘handwriting’
technique. These technologies are ubiquitous outside hackerdom, but nearly
forgotten inside it. Most hackers had terrible handwriting to begin with,
and years of keyboarding tend to have encouraged it to degrade further.
Perhaps for this reason, hackers deprecate pencil-and-paper technology and
often resist using it in any but the most trivial contexts.